Jaswant Singh Launches International Edition of "Jinnah" and Speaks in London

Jaswant Singh, Member of the Lok Sabha or Lower House,and former External Affairs and Finance Minister, held a press conference in the House of Commmons with journalists,an MP and members of the House of Lords, including Lord Dholakia.

In attendance were Indian as well as Pakistani journalists. In India,the appearance of the book caused much controversy and Singh's explulsion from the BJP.It has been in the best seller lists,
and has had to be reprinted 23 times.

He said that "Pakistan became the step-child of Uttar Pradesh."He observed that "India's immediate vicinity is in turmoil," and said, "I find it disturbing that foreign troops are fghting on the soil of South Asia...we find NATO troops in Afghanistan."

On drones, he seemed to indicate that it was wrong, in his opinion, that "because drones are unmanned, so drones can attack anywhere in the world."

He described how, on a meeting with former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Singh's turban was admired by the PM - so the former sent 11 of them to the latter.He added that Rajputs value three things highly; a horse, a sword, and a wife, so it is not advised to admire those items since protocol demands that the item is immediately presented to the admirer.

Singh was in town for a debate on Pakistan. He spoke for a very short time, preferring to take questions from the floor. That's amazingly rare. He spoke humbly and declined to answer where he felt it wasn't appropriate.He avoided answering my question, but then very quietly dropped a hint as to what his answer would have been, afterwards, when I talked to him one on one.